July 26 - Glacier National Park, Montana to Liard Hot Springs, Canada

One of the several bears we saw while driving.

Photo compliments of Ken

Sign post forest at Watson Lake

Lots of bison

Damaged axle getting hauled to Whitehorse

400 miles from where we left Le Camper.

This is what we saw after seeing our tire

roll by us and then into the woods.

Same tire location that we’ve had issues 

with this trip. Driver side rear trailer tire.

The scenery is definitely getting more beautiful.

Rose thinks it looks like Alaska.

We waited from 10am to 8pm for the road

to get fixed. Thankfully we had Le Camper for

naps (Jenn), restroom, and a hot dinner. 

Keep in mind this was in the middle of nowhere 

so no cell service to get road updates either.

Workers hard at work making a new road since

the road was washed away from the river.

Ken decided it was a good time to get

in his run. Jenn scootered and Rose played 

with her baton.

Rose with twirling ribbon.

Famous sign. We are still in Canada.

So here’s where we went this past year.

Jenn on an amazing kayak ride in Lower Lake Mary

near East Glacier/ St Mary’s. It was a great morning.

The water was emerald green and smooth.

Water color. 

So glad the phone captured the color.

Look at this gorgeous sky.

Rose and Ken doing a morning run at

East Glacier KOA.

Rose participated in painting rocks at 

West Glacier KOA.

Note that pictures above are posted from newest to oldest for the week. 

Well, you can’t end the year long journey with “and then we left Glacier National Park, entered Canada, then Alaska, 

and before you knew it we were home sweet home.” Because travel and life don’t normally happen like that. If only …

It’s been quite the adventure the last few days. We enjoyed a few more days at West Glacier before moving to the KOA at East Glacier. We enjoyed the Many Glacier road (saw a few bears) and the Going-to-the-Sun road again. Jenn also really enjoyed a kayak ride from the East Glacier campground. And while walking back to the camper on the lake trail, she saw a grizzly bear cross the trail 10 feet ahead of her. Thankfully it wasn’t bothered by her but it was definitely a startling moment. “And that is sadly how the one year trip ended” thankfully wasn’t how this blog ended. 

Crossing the Canadian border at Chief Mountain was uneventful. We ended up leaving the KOA mid afternoon a day early to get a head start on the return trip. In hindsight that probably didn’t make a difference. We (at least Jenn and Rose) are ready to be home but Le Camper isn’t.

We planned on driving through Banff National Park but found out that Jasper (north of Banff) was getting evacuated due to wildfires. Banff was getting smoky and we would have likely needed to re route after Banff anyhow so we decided to take a more northern route. This is the second time Jenn has wanted to see Banff but we couldn’t or didn’t. It was a good move as Jasper has experienced terrible destruction. About an hour north of Fort Nelson we knew the road was partially gone and the lane was reduced to one but we decided to go for it anyhow. Keep in mind cell service starts getting iffy and getting updates was becoming more and more challenging. We considered going south but that would have added at least 1,000 miles to our journey. Or maybe kilometers. Whatever it was it was a lot! About an hour before this road issue we saw 2 signs next to each other. One said “Road closed” while the other said “Road open.” So we forged ahead. The road was closed but a line was forming so we decided to get in line. Jenn was wondering if leaving by 6am was such a great idea after all and especially after SITTING in the line from 10am until 8pm. The only plus in all of this was that Jenn was able to read hundreds of pages in her book that she needs to read by the end of August for her Book Club that normally doesn’t read books. Additionally the weather was perfect (low 60s) so no air conditioning was needed and we could save our gas. Rose has been saying that one of her best overnight spots on our way to the Lower 48 was when we had to park on the side of the road for the night due to a big rainstorm. So we asked her if she was happy to be parked on the road all day and she said “ No, not during the day. At night time.”

Well just when you thought that the worst was behind us, 2 hours after getting out of that road closure (10pm), Ken noticed a tire rolling beside our truck. Then he realized it was our trailer tire. Apparently the failed bearing made the axle snap. We were able to safely get to the side of the road and camped there for the night near a maintenance yard. (This still wasn’t what Rose had in mind about being camped on the side of the road.) Ken proposed driving with the truck that night (without the camper) but with the construction delay and now the axle Jenn didn’t think it was wise to hit the road all night. Ken agreed. The next morning Ken found the tire in the woods and we limped with the camper to a campground across from Liard Hot Springs where Rose and Jenn said adieu to Le Camper. Thankfully they were not full. Rose said we were abandoning ship but with her dallying around and trying to best organize her suitcases, Jenn told her the ship would have sank by now. We did pack up our stuff and loaded the truck with the axle in order to drive to the nearest large town, Whitehorse, a 7 hour drive north (yes, towards Alaska) with Le Camper left behind near Liard Hot Springs. Would we ever see it again? Did we care at this point? Some questions have yet to be answered and to some Jenn and Rose would say No!

Thursday night we enjoyed the Best Western Gold Rush Inn hotel room and Ken headed to the repair shop by 8am Friday. If all goes well (and why should it! lol), we will be back at our camper tonight by 9pm, axle replaced in the morning by Ken, and back on the road tomorrow (Saturday) headed to Alaska. Jenn’s concern is that we had axle trouble while the roads were still decent. After Whitehorse they will get worse. Also note that there is no cell service nor working WiFi at our camper. We thought about Jenn and Rose staying there while Ken drove to and from Whitehorse but without any way to reach each other (except with a pay phone and that’s another story) we decided it was best that we stick together. After all, we have survived in this teensy weensy camper (as Rose calls it) this long together. 

Thanks so much for your prayers for safety and health. We may be home Sunday or Monday. Or someday. ❤️